If, When
by JaydenBell
Summary: Oneshot. Stella/Flack. Fluffy and fun. I can't summarize it any better than that without giving up the story, now can I?


**Disclaimer: I own nada. I leave the ownership stuff to TPTB (because with ownership comes responsibility for yelling, screaming fans).**

**A/N: I wrote this up on a whim while I was on vacation a couple weeks ago. No beta on this one, all mistakes are my own.  
I'm dedicating this one to TessaStarDean because she is working hard on a new fic and she needed a random fluffy shipper break. Enjoy.**

Stella wiped her face on a towel and sat back against the wall. She gave her stomach a few minutes to calm down, then stood slowly. She flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth before walking out of the bathroom.

Sitting on the couch, Stella rubbed her eyes as the reality and stress began to set in. She picked up her cell phone and pushed a number on the speed dial.

"Monroe."

"Hey, Lindsay. It's Stella. Are you busy?"

"Nope, just packing up for the day. What's up?"

"Feel like coming by to chat for a while? I feel like I need a girls night."

"That sounds great. I'll be there in a little while."

"Good. And um…do you think you could pick up a pregnancy test on your way over?"

Lindsay was silent for a moment, which Stella expected. "Uh, sure. I'll, um, I'll see you in a little bit."

"Okay."

They both hung up without a proper goodbye. Stella didn't know what she was going to tell her friend, but she knew she really needed to talk.

When there was a knock at the door, Stella answered it quickly. She had been sitting on the couch in the quiet of her apartment since ending her call with Lindsay. She opened the door and attempted a half smile at Lindsay. She stepped aside to let her in and Lindsay dropped the pharmacy bag on the table as she walked by.

They both walked to the couch in silence. As they made themselves comfortable, Lindsay looked Stella in the eye and raised her eyebrows.

Stella let out a forced laugh and shrugged. "I'm just as surprised as you are."

"You can't possibly be. I didn't even know you were seeing anyone. And here I thought I was pretty good at picking up on these things."

"You are. I'm not seeing anybody."

Lindsay shook her head, lost. "Start from the beginning, Stell."

_Stella was carefully peeling off her shirt trying not to let the ice cold material touch any more of her skin than it already had. She dropped it with an unceremonious 'plop' on the floor, and began working on the rest of her clothing. As she pulled on the hem of her camisole, she heard the door open behind her. She turned around as Flack walked in and stopped what she was doing._

_When Flack saw Stella in her state of undress, he quickly turned his back. "Sorry, Stella. Danny said you came in to grab another sweater. I assumed that meant you needed a second one because you were cold or something."_

_Stella smiled at the blush she could see creeping up his neck. "It's okay. But I'm soaking wet, and I really am cold, so I really have to finish changing before I catch pneumonia or something. Stay over there for a minute." She walked closer to her locker to provide herself a little cover as she went back to changing. "So you were looking for me for a reason, right?" She peeked her head past the lockers to make sure Flack was still turned away before unhooking her bra._

"_Oh, yeah." He waved his arms out, as though he was shocked he had forgotten already. "I need the case report from the triple homicide from last month. The DA is taking it to trial this week."_

"_Sure. Just write up the request and I'll sign it for you."_

_Flack reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope, holding it over his head. "Got it right here. Thought maybe I would be a pest and hand-deliver it cause I don't have much else to do at the moment."_

_Stella chuckled as she pulled on a dry camisole. "That's fine. Just give me a minute." She stepped away from her locker to shimmy her pants off and quickly pull up her dry jeans. As she tugged the zipper up, she raised her head. "Okay. Hand it over."_

_Flack turned around while she was pushing the button through the button hole and laughed._

_Stella adjusted her pants at the waist and met his eyes. "What?"_

"_You been workin' with men too long." He reached past her and stuck the envelope into her still open locker._

"_Why do you say that?" She grabbed her sweater from the bench and slid her arms through the sleeves._

"_Your definition of descent is pants unbuttoned and an undershirt. I could have waited for you to finish dressing, ya know."_

_She pulled the shirt over her head and laughed. "All the important parts were covered. It works for me."_

_Flack reached forward and slid his hand behind her neck to free her hair from the collar of her shirt. "You're a mystery."_

_Stella smoothed the front of her sweater and ran her fingers through her hair. "Why thank you," she smiled. She stuffed her wet clothing into a plastic bag and dropped it in her locker. She grabbed the envelope that Flack put there and stuck it in her back pocket. "Back to business." She closed her locker. "This city doesn't slow down. Not even for messes of the super-size variety."_

"Okay, but Stella, you don't get pregnant from a touch on the back of your neck." Lindsay leaned forward excitedly and grinned. "How was that, by the way?"

"It was all I could do to keep from melting right there," she beamed. "But you're right, that's not how all this happened. I think that was just the beginning."

"_Damnit! Martin, how many times do I have to tell you, no coffee on the scene. There is too much going on out here for you to be worrying about your coffee."_

_The young officer looked down at his feet as Stella ranted._

"_I want you behind the barricade now. Feel free to return when you understand how to listen to orders."_

_Officer Martin walked back to his car and sat in the passenger seat with the door open._

_Flack walked up behind Stella a moment later and cleared his throat._

_Stella whirled around, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she faced the detective. "What?!"_

_He took a large step back before he spoke. "Don't you think you were a little hard on him?"_

"_That was the third time in four weeks that he's spilled his coffee at a scene. He's going to compromise evidence." She looked down at her white shirt and frowned. "And ruin a very nice shirt."_

"_Yeah, that's pretty unfortunate," he agreed._

_Stella looked him up and down. "Are you wearing an undershirt?"_

_Flack leaned back and scrunched his brow. "What?"_

"_Let me borrow your shirt. Please?"_

_Flack held the front of his shirt out between his thumb and middle finger. "This shirt? The one I'm wearing?"_

"_You'll still have a t-shirt on. C'mon, help me out, Don."_

"_Don't you have an extra in your locker?"_

"_Yes I do, but I'm not in the lab to get it, I still have a scene to process, and my shirt is now see-thru!" Stella punctuated each point by stomping her heel on the pavement._

_Flack looked at the front of Stella's shirt, which she was still trying to keep hidden with her firmly crossed arms._

_She watched his eyes wandering to her shirt and grunted. She kept one arm crossed over her chest and reached the other out to smack him. "That wasn't an invitation to see for yourself."_

"_Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he chuckled and looked around quickly. "There's a café right there. You can change in there."_

_They walked the few feet to the little café and headed toward the back where the bathroom was. When Stella opened the door, she grabbed Flack's hand and quickly pulled him in behind her. Once the door was closed, Stella slid the lock in place._

_A startled Flack laughed as Stella held out her hand. "What are you doin' Stell?"_

"_Okay, gimme your shirt."_

"_There aren't any stalls in here."_

"_So? You're not getting naked. And I've seen you without a shirt before anyway."_

"_Fine." Flack yanked his shirt from his pants and made quick work of the buttons. As he slid it off his arms, Stella turned her back to him and pulled her own shirt over her head. "Geez, Stella!"_

_Stella handed her shirt back to Flack over her right shoulder and held her left hand out to the side._

_Flack put his shirt in her empty hand and took her stained shirt. He then spun around and tapped his toe._

_After Stella finished buttoning up, she turned and saw Flack with his back to her. She tapped him on the shoulder. "You baffle me."_

_Flack turned around and handed her shirt back to her. "Right back at ya." He reached down and started to roll the sleeve up for her; as he moved to the other arm she held it out for him. "It's still too big on ya, but that oughta help."_

"_Thanks. We should get back." Stella walked past him and reached for the lock on the door._

"_Hey wait, Bonasera." Stella looked back at him "You own me."_

"_Yeah, I know." Stella pulled the door open and they walked back out to the street._

_Flack headed to the police barricades on the left to begin his questioning._

"_Hey Detective, you dressing down today?" An officer asked as Flack took out his memo book._

_Flack looked down at his white t-shirt and smirked. "Coffee incident." He glanced back over his shoulder at Stella and grinned as she tried to adjust the large dress shirt to fit better._

_She tucked the front of the shirt loosely into her pants to keep it from hanging in the way. As she tossed her blouse into her vehicle and retrieved her kit from the back, she pushed the right sleeve up her arm a little higher._

_Danny walked onto the scene and whistled softly as he stood behind her. "Since when does Stella Bonasera parade her indiscretions around town?"_

"'_Scuse me?"_

"_That's a very large man's dress shirt. Definitely not yours. So I'm thinkin' you spent the night with someone and didn't go home to change this morning."_

_Stella steeled him with a glare. "I had a little coffee incident. I borrowed the shirt because my white blouse was no longer white."_

"_Ah." He nodded slowly, implying that he didn't quite believe her._

"_Even if I did spend the night with someone last night, I wouldn't be parading it around here." She waited for a reaction but didn't get one. "Don't you have work to do?"_

"_Right."_

"Oh, _I _may melt at how sweet he is."

"I know, right. That's my problem. We both just got so caught up in the sweetness and one thing led to another.

_Stella knocked quickly and waited. Flack opened the door and smiled at the sight in front of him. Stella stood in his doorway with his shirt on a hanger, dangling from one finger, a pizza balanced in her hand, and a 6-pack clutched in the other. "What's this?"_

"_I owe you, remember?"_

_Flack raised an eyebrow._

"_There's a game on tonight, Danny and Hawkes both have to work until midnight, so I knew you'd be watching it by yourself. Here," she handed the pizza and shirt to him._

_He stepped aside to let her in._

_Stella put the beer on the counter and turned back to Flack. "Go put a shirt on so we can eat."_

_Flack put the pizza down and laughed. "Oh sure, but it's okay when you do it." _

_Stella smiled as Flack walked back to his room with his dress shirt. He returned a moment later wearing a t-shirt with his sweat pants._

"_So, Knicks game?" Flack asked._

_Stella grabbed the pizza from the counter while Flack got the beer and a couple napkins._

_They settled themselves on the couch and watched the action of the game unfold._

_An hour later, most of the pizza was gone and they were finishing off the beer._

"_This totally doesn't count, ya know," Flack leaned over and whispered._

_Without looking away from the TV, Stella tilted her head up a little. "What?"_

"_This. It doesn't make up for me giving you my shirt yesterday."_

_Eyes still trained on the TV, Stella tilted her head more. "Then what am I gonna have to do?"_

"_Stella?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Stella?" Flack repeated._

_Stella looked away from the TV and up at Flack. "Yeah?"_

_Flack quickly leaned down and captured Stella's lips with his own._

_Almost as soon as it started, the kiss was over._

_Flack sat up again and leaned back into the couch. He grinned as he felt Stella's eyes on him. "I think that oughta do."_

_Stella's mouth gaped open. "What the hell was that?"_

"_I'm sorry, but I've been wanting to do that for a while. And you've only been making it worse this week with your…lack of modesty."_

_Stella blushed. "I actually wanted to do that too." When Flack twisted on the couch to face her, Stella smiled sheepishly, her redness not letting up. "Just out of curiosity, ya know."_

_Flack grinned. "If ya wanted to know, all ya had to do was ask."_

_Stella rolled her eyes. "It was just, when you touched my neck to fix my hair the other day…it gave me goosebumps. I didn't really think a little touch could do that. And when you helped me with my sleeves yesterday, it was like déjà vu. I thought if a touch could do that, a kiss oughta be really interesting."_

_Flack smiled when she looked away. "And survey says?"_

_Stella looked into his eyes and grinned. "Not bad."_

"_Not bad?" Flack repeated. "No goosebumps?"_

_Stella laughed at Flack who, now sounded worried. "Better than goosebumps. But a little short lived."_

"_Well, I didn't want to push my luck."_

"_I think that's okay to do every once in a while."_

"I barely finished the statement before his hands were on my face and he was kissing me again."

"And?" Lindsay pushed.

"And I was definitely kissing back."

"Wow. That's…wow."

"Yeah."

"So last week when you said you were going to stay home and watch the game when I asked you to go out with us?"

"Oh, I really was watching the game; I had had a long day and wanted to take it easy for the night. Me and Don only slept together that one night." She sighed. "Three times."

"Oh my god!" Lindsay's eyes went wide. "Stella!"

"I know. But you have _no_ idea. Living in the moment and not caring about tomorrow…I haven't lived like that in a long time. I haven't trusted a man like that in a long time. It just seemed so easy with Don."

Lindsay's expression changed to sadness and comfort. "I know it's been hard for you. And you deserve to be with someone amazing." She smiled a little. "And Don Flack is pretty amazing."

Stella nodded in agreement. "He is."

"But a lot has changed here."

"I know. I don't know what I'm gonna do."

"You're gonna go take a pregnancy test," Lindsay said simply. "And then you need to make a phone call."

Stella bit her lip and looked solidly at her friend, nodding.

"I'll be right here." Lindsay reached out and squeezed Stella's hand.

Stella returned the gesture and rose from the couch. She took the bag from the table and walked back to the bathroom. She walked back out a couple minutes later with a watch in her hand.

As she stood outside the bathroom, leaning against the wall, her mind raced. She didn't even notice when Lindsay walked up to her and grasped her hand for support. As she watched the two minutes ticking by slowly on the face of the watch, she feared walking back into the bathroom.

"Now or never," Stella sighed. She walked into the bathroom and looked down at the tests lined up on the counter. When she looked back out at Lindsay in the hall, she had tears in her eyes. "Negative. All three of them."

Lindsay sighed and walked into the bathroom with her and put her arm around her. "That's great news Stella."

"Best I've gotten all year." Stella dropped the tests into the trash and walked back out to the living room with Lindsay. "I don't understand why I'm so sick though."

"Maybe you just caught a stomach bug. I mean, how long ago was it that you slept with Flack?"

"Four and a half weeks. When I was late and started throwing up, I kinda just put two and two together."

"I think you're just so stressed out with all of this and a run-of-the-mill stomach virus that your body just pshyched you out."

Stella forced a laugh. "Yeah, I think so too. Now."

Lindsay chuckled. "Believe me, Flack is going to be in even worse shape when you replay the story for him."

They both laughed at the thought.

"Oh," Stella sighed dramatically, "what on earth am I going to tell him?"

"Everything. How you feel, what you want, and this little incident…"

Stella looked at her watch. "I might as well do it now while I've got the courage to do it." They stood from the couch and embraced warmly. "Thanks for being her for me, Linds."

"Anytime, Stella."

With that, Lindsay left, giving Stella the space to do what she needed to do.

Stella sat back down on her couch and picked up her phone. After taking a deep breath, she dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Don. It's Stella. You doing anything?"

"Nothing that can't be put off 'til tomorrow. What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you. Would you like to come over for a while?"

"Sure. I'll be there in a few."

As Stella anxiously waited for Flack to get to her place, she tried playing the scenario out in her head, over and over again. She couldn't think of a single way to tell him about her pregnancy scare that didn't end with him running out the door in her mind.

She was jolted from her thoughts by a sharp knock at the door. The sight of Flack standing at her door with Chinese take-out was impossibly heart-warming.

She smiled as she let him in and settled on the couch with him as they opened the containers.

"When you said you wanted to talk it sounded kinda serious. I'm not really a serious kind of guy when I'm hungry, so…"

Stella chuckled. "That's okay. To be honest, I'm starving."

"So what did you need to talk about?"

"Us." She made the statement simple and straightforward. If she beat around the bush, she thought she might not get out what she wanted to say.

"I'm listening."

"Last month we did something a little crazy. Not bad, just, not like us." She paused and waited for him to finish chewing his bite before she came out with her next statement. "And a little while ago, I took a pregnancy test because I was afraid that what we had done had an unplanned consequence." Flack's eyes suddenly became wide, but his expression gave no hint to what he was thinking. "It was negative. But I really started to worry for a while what would have happened if I was pregnant. I didn't want it to be the result of a careless night."

"Stella, I'm glad you're not pregnant. At least, not right now. You'll be a great mother one day, but you're right. It shouldn't happen like that." He put his take-out container down and took her hand. This startled her and she thought best to put her food down as well. "After that night, I got to thinking about us too. I was kickin' myself for not tellin' you how I felt. I figured that if you felt the same, we could give us a try. And if not, I knew you'd let me down easy. But after that night, I was sure you felt the way I did. I saw the passion in your eyes when I kissed you."

"But that doesn't change the fact that what we did was a mistake."

"I agree. We shouldn't have jumped in bed together like that. But we can't go back on that now. But what I would like to do is offer to slow it down. Start from the beginning and do it right this time. I want to get to know you the way only a boyfriend can. I want to take you out on dates and talk about absolutely everything and hold your hand. And if we get to that point, we'll talk more about the future."

Stella smiled. "When."

"What?"

"You said '_if_ we get to that point'. I'm saying '_when, when_ we get to that point'." She scooted closer to him and lowered her voice just a bit. "I'm not saying that we have to start planning the future right now, but I always knew that if I fell in love, it would be with my best friend. I knew there would never be any questions or worries. Just trust."

"When."

This time Stella scrunched her forehead in confusion. "What?"

"You said '_if_ you fell in love.' I'm saying '_when_'."


End file.
